Review- Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors

     Once in a while all of us have a moment like this. A moment when we have to take a chance on something we aren't 100% sure about. A moment when every fiber of our being wants to just freeze up, but we have to make a choice. That was my experience with 999. In a lot of ways that was my experience purchasing the game as well. The prospect of a Phoenix Wright sort of game which is more of a light novel than a video game can be a risky proposition, but anyone who picks this one up is going to wonder why they ever doubted it.

     999 is an oddity, not just in its text heavy gameplay, as I stated before, but in the fact that it's an M rated DS game. Rarely is a mature title seen on a portable system period, let alone Nintendo's machine. This actually contributes greatly to the game however, as it allows the player to go on as twisted of a ride as they want. From an early perspective, the game's premise seems very simple. 9 people wake up on a sinking ship with bombs inside theme and are told the have 9 hours to escape, and that in order to do so they must plat the Nonary Game and "Seek a door that carries a 9." But then the questions begin to arise. Who is Zero, the man who put you all here? What do all these people have in common? Why these people in particular? What would make Zero want to do this? Is it just a sick game, or is there a bigger plan in store? These are just some of the countless questions you'll ask over the course of 999, and as answers are given, even more questions will be asked, and you can see the credits without having learned anything at all, based on your choices throughout the game.

The player character Junpei is a 21 year old college student with zero apparent links to the Nonary Game

     And that brings up the biggest part of 999, the choices. During the game you'll have to decide how to act around certain characters and which doors to enter, which then lead to puzzles. These might seem like small choices, but they drastically effect the gameplay. In fact, on a first playthrough of 999, you'll probably see less than a third of the puzzles the game has to offer, let alone all the dialogue, important story points and twists. The puzzles in 999 can range from making a dry ice bomb to solving math problems, most involving digital roots. Some of the late game puzzles can actually prove very challenging, and the game really requires you to dig in and think about most of these puzzles if you want to continue. There are 6 endings to 999, but each of them is required to get the full experience, and while there is only one true ending, there's a surprising amount of effort put into the other endings as well, and after a possibly unsatisfactory ending, players will want to head right back into the game from the beginning and find a different conclusion.

     Another interesting thing is the use of the soundtrack. The game will go on for long periods of time without any music, so when a track actually plays, you really feel something. The game's music fits very well with the suspenseful story, usually giving you the feeling that something is wrong. The music is used to stress the disturbing nature of the Nonary Game perfectly and can seamlessly blend from a hopeless scene to something far more tender without breaking your immersion.

     I'd really like to give 999 a perfect score. It's the best at what it does, and what it does is tell an interesting and suspenseful story in a way that most games can't.

                                                                          10/10